“We are proud to welcome our newest recruiter with extensive industry experience to the Securities America team,” said John Behn, Securities America national director of branch office development. “When hiring for skilled recruiters, we wanted to find someone who already knew the areas we hoped to cover. Carruth’s enthusiasm along with his history in the South made him the perfect addition to our team to help continue the ongoing growth of the company.”

Carruth, 38, brings nearly 15 years of financial services industry experience to Securities America as a senior regional director focused on the Southern U.S., including Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. He earned his bachelor’s of business administration in finance from Texas A&M in 1999 before beginning his career as a recruiter with GE Capital and later becoming a senior investment advisor and senior recruiter with JP Morgan Chase. Most recently, Carruth was a senior vice president of national recruiting for Williams Financial Group in Dallas.

“Securities America intrigued me as a progressive company with award-winning technology and a commitment to independence across multiple channels,” Carruth said. “If an advisor desires a broker-dealer, dual-registration or true hybrid model, we offer an industry-leading multi-custodial solution for them. Securities America has the perfect balance between large company resources and a small company feel. The vision of Jim Nagengast, Gregg Johnson and John Behn to continue to innovate the ever-changing financial services landscape made Securities America the right choice for me.”

About Securities America

Headquartered in La Vista, Neb., Securities America Inc. is a national top 10 independent broker-dealer (as ranked by Financial Planning magazine). For more than 25 years, Securities America’s mission has been to foster the success of financial professionals so they can provide quality, objective counsel and services to their clients. Advisors benefit from the firm’s industry-leading programs in practice management, advisory services and retirement income distribution, supported by state-of-the-art technology. Founded in 1993, Securities America Advisors Inc. is an SEC-Registered Investment Advisory firm that offers investment management, financial advice and financial planning through a national network of independent financial advisors. Securities America Financial Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE MKT: LTS). Securities America received the inaugural Thought Leadership Award from the Retirement Income Industry Association in March 2011, the inaugural Bank Insurance & Securities Association (BISA) Technology Innovation Award in March 2013 and was named to the 2013 InformationWeek 500, a list of the top technology innovators in the U.S. Additional information is available at www.securitiesamerica.com.